


having fun isn't hard when you've got a library card

by orphan_account



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Fluff, M/M, Romance, Slash, Superhusbands
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-06-01
Updated: 2014-06-01
Packaged: 2018-02-03 01:37:10
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,345
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1726418
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Tony Stark does not, if ever, get rendered speechless.</p>
            </blockquote>





	having fun isn't hard when you've got a library card

**Author's Note:**

> This is for my lovely, Brittany, (@directorstarks); she's my baby & I love her. ♡ 
> 
> So, after writing quite an angst/sad fanfic, I thought I'd write a quick, fluffy one next. I don't have any future plans for this piece, really, though I suppose if I wished to, it is open to more. Again, thank you to my brilliant beta, @bvckysteve, who is wonderful with looking over my work.

Tony Stark does not, if ever, get rendered speechless. 

There might’ve been that time when he’d seen Pepper in a silk, red dress that was low on the back and sequins sewn along the straps at one of his parties, or when told his parents had died in a car accident on the final sweltering day of summer. As for now, he’s not only completely choked and his is throat tight and constricting, but a lovely blush colours his neck, travelling up to stain his cheeks. 

He’s never felt so enclosed, a room has never felt so so suffocating and small; it’s a goddamn library, for Christ’s sake, two levels and nearing the size of half the school. But it feels as if the walls are shuddering around him, closing in, about to trap him for good, and as it does, everybody must be looking at him, scrutinising this conversation and the question that he hasn’t yet answered —

‘So?’ Steve prompts. ‘Is that okay?’

It’s like the time he got trapped in a closet when he was a child. ‘Uh. Is what okay?’

He winces at the lack of focus, and he’s usually totally good at listening, at least half as much as he is at talking, and he prepares himself for the sigh of frustration or snappy reply, but it doesn’t come. 

Instead, Steve grins. It’s, god, it’s more brilliant than he’d imagined when he’d thought about Steve directing that smile at him. He’d only seen Steve Rogers smile from a distance, as he laughed with all the other jocks or talking to his friends, (Peggy, or Barnes, he thinks — he has so many friends and gets on with just about everyone so it’s hard to keep count), but up close, he doesn’t mind if he goes blind from how dazzling it is. Yeah, if he thought he was going to easily get over this crush, he was wrong. So much that it probably involves hours spent crying over him and his lovely smile. Pints of ice cream. Late nights. Maybe even some sappy romance chick-flicks with Pepper. 

‘If you could help me with my homework?’

His back is sweating, when the hell did that happen? ‘Sure, sure, but uh, what kind of homework is it? Cause I suck at anything besides Math and all types of Science. So, yeah, you might have come to the wrong guy if that’s what you’re looking for —’

‘It’s physics.’ There’s that smile again. ‘You’re top of the class, right?’

‘The one and only.’

He hopes it doesn’t come off too self-satisfied, but Steve just continues to smile. ‘It’s these equations.’ He sits down in the seat next to him, so close Tony can feel the warmth of his skin, and yeah, it is as creepy as it sounds. ‘I don’t know if they’re correct.’

Tony puts on his reading glasses, and after a few minutes of checking Steve’s work, frowns. ‘These are all correct. If you think you’re stupid, you’re actually completely the opposite. Why’d you think —’

‘I didn’t,’ he shrugs. ‘I knew they were right. Had to find a way to speak to you, didn’t I?’

Tony blinks. ‘Because just a normal conversation is overrated?’

‘No.’ He closes his book and looks intently at Tony. ‘Because I wanted to speak to you alone.’

He frowns again. ‘Am I in trouble? Are you an undercover teacher of something? Cause if this is about the time I blew up the guys bathroom, it was purely for experimentation and science, until Barton — I repeat, Clint Barton — being an ass, screwed it up, and —’

‘I’m not undercover, but it’s good to know how dedicated you are to your studies.’

‘It was a blip,’ he says, almost desperate to explain. ‘I’m still a genius.’

Steve raises an eyebrow. ‘Would a genius single handedly cause the shut down of a school building for a week?’

Tony rolls his eyes. ‘That’s what makes a genius. How else would I have become top of the class? Jeez, you said so yourself —’

He doesn’t get to finish, and he’s glad, really; if Steve hadn’t fisted the front of his shirt and hauled him forward, planting their mouths together, he would’ve rambled on for ages about nonsense. He’s definitely okay with this; with the way seconds pass and their lips are pressed together, with Steve’s tongue running over the seam of his lips and eyelashes fluttering against his cheeks. 

It’s not a great kiss in skill or experience, but it’s amazing in feelings. Steve’s hand finds his hair, tugging him forward as he releases a pained, starved noise that Tony just can’t control. His mouth is dry and the alcohol he’d smuggled into his water bottle clings to the roof of his mouth, but he doesn’t care; it works, it fits. It’s unbelievably real, and yet he still marvels that, if this were a dream, how impressive a dream it is. 

He’s forced to pull back when his chest burns for air. ‘Y’know, a simple thank you would’ve worked, too.’

‘True,’ Steve says, and his lips are red and swollen, drawing all of Tony’s attention to his mouth again. ‘But I liked this way better.’

Tony swallows, the flush returning, all over. ‘If you came over here to kiss me, which I’m totally not objected to, but a little warning might’ve been nice.’

‘I thought being spontaneous was seen as romantic.’

‘For women, maybe —’

‘Oh, so you didn’t enjoy it?’

‘No, I mean yes, I liked, loved it — don’t smile at me like that like you’re some happy puppy wagging its tail when he knows exactly what he’s doing —’

Steve lunches forward again, kissing him, harder than before, nearly bruising, a graceless kiss but by no means unenjoyable. When he breaks away, he’s heaving in gasps, a lazy smirk on his mouth. ‘Are you finished now? Cause I’d like to ask you something.’

He’s dizzy and maybe a little drunk, (somehow, he doesn’t know how the hell that works, maybe on endorphins induced by Steve, Steve-endorphins, trademark Tony Stark), but a manages a weak reply, breathlessly saying, ‘Shoot.’

‘Would you like to go on a date with me at some point?’

‘Wait,’ Tony says, narrowing his eyes. ‘I thought kissing comes after the date. Are we doing this backwards? If so, y’know we’re supposed to have sex, soon, or have started with it, but I’m not objecting. Besides, dates are completely overrated.’

Steve reaches up and rubs a thumb over Tony’s lips. ‘I’d like to do it as traditionally as I can. So, that sort of thing might have to wait.’ He looks at Tony from under his lashes. ‘Have you been on a date before?’

‘Yes, of course I have!’ he says, indignant. ‘Just, not for while.’

‘I could teach you all the basics again,’ he suggest. ‘If you’ll let me.’

There’s more than an odd chance that he could screw this up, like he did with Pepper, turn back to the drink and drown away his life, and he’s only a Senior. He wants it, wants this opportunity to become a lot happier than he is now, especially after finding out his crush might just like him back, (he hopes, unless he’s misinterpreting the kiss, but he has a good feeling it means what he thinks it means), and to let it slip through his fingers would be a huge mistake.

And maybe it’ll turn out a disaster, a messy, clash of opposites, but that’s okay, because it could also turn out to be something good, something that turns his whole life upside down for the better, even if that doesn’t make any sense at all, which he’s pretty sure it doesn’t, but who the hell gives a damn? He’s all for trying, facing a challenge, so why not try with this, too?

All his life — well, most of it, he’s isolated himself in the dark. There’s a shed of light now, just within reaching distance, and if he just takes a step forward, he could seize it. 

He smiles. ‘Lead the way, Captain.’


End file.
